Dear Srila Prabhupāda,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to your lotus feet. All glories to your divine appearance.

In this world where hearts are breaking

Being given to mortals who perish

Whose tender arms once held so dearly

Cannot be reached once they are gone

Gentle lips who sang so sweetly

Fall silent in the night

Vigilant eyes who once watched over

Have lost their precious sight

Earthly joys and the sorrows that follow

Lead alike unto the grave

Where to turn for lasting relationships

In a world which only fades

You introduced us to a vibrant land

Shaped by the song of Krishna’s flute

Where loving relationships endure

Growing sweeter deeper newer eternally

In that homeland of our souls

The glory of your tender-hearted Lord

Extends beyond Vaikuntha

His grace runs deeper than the causal ocean

In 1896 He blessed this earth

and all the souls herein

Sending His most magnanimous servant

You our eternal servant

Our hearts were forever transformed in 1972

When you visited New Vrindaban

To lead us in the worship

For Krishna Janmāstamī and your Vyāsa-pūjā

To kindle love for sacred teachings

In the temple room

As Janmāstamī’s midnight ārati neared

Devotees sat at your lotus feet

Like ancient sages gathered around their guru

For a Bhāgavat recital in some timeless holy place

As we read chapters of Krishna book aloud

Culminating in the Lord's advent

You appeared to have entered the very līlā described

We were unable to follow

By your kindness

Our inability to share in your experience

Was overcome on the following day

Nandotsava began with eager anticipation

What a rare joy and true gift

To celebrate your appearance

While you were here with us

As you approached the pandal

It was like a scene from the spiritual realm unfolding

As if Sri Dhām was already preparing

An offering of her own

Cows grazed peacefully

Across the verdant hillsides

Each one decorated

With patterns drawn in various hues

Of New Vrindaban clay

When you stepped out of Hayagrīva’s Volkswagen

To walk the final stretch

Daisies in the field bowed their gentle heads

Along the path you tread

The gracious way you smiled upon us

Like the index of your soul

Spoke volumes of precious siddhānta

More than any book or scroll

Conveying sweet assurance

Fulfilling our deepest aspiration

That you would feel at home

Here in New Vrindaban

Honoring Their loving envoy

Rādhā-Dāmodara came to be with you

To preside over the festivities

On this most blessed occasion

As you came before Their Lordships

To offer your pranāms

You began to lead the indelible kirtan

And the spiritual frontier

Emerged before our vision

Your ecstasy was contagious

Everyone was affected

Hundreds of eyes shed joyous tears

Hundreds of arms reached upward

Undulating with grace

Celestial voices joined with ours

Songs of nature formed the chorus

Echoes responded from surrounding hills

Noontime sun from high above

Shone down on us to see

Faces beaming with new-found hope

In brighter worlds beyond the sky

While our praise rose upward

Blessings descended in return

Your Vyāsa-pūjā lecture

Thereby affirmed

It seemed as if the heavens opened

For the mellows of Vrindāvana to shower upon us

Cleansing the mirror of my soul from the dust of illusion

While subduing samsāra’s raging fire

Awakening a taste for devotional life

A euphoric feeling surpassing all comprehension

Distinct from all worldly experience

Immersed us in the ecstasy of unbounded joy

Amidst a delicate assemblage of fragrance and warmth

Color beauty luster and rasa

This impression grows ever more vivid

With the passage of time

I reflect on it often

For inspiration

In the half century that has passed

My steps have tried to move forward

While my heart still lags behind

Absorbed in precious memory

Let past and present now embrace

In memory of future homecoming

You represent Paramātmā

Our eternal guide and companion

Who emerged from the core of our hearts

To appear before our eyes

In the mortal form we knew

How we would love to know

Your eternal form in Vrindāvan

And how we will serve you there

We are confident that all Truths

Will be revealed in course of time

To those who embrace the essence

In all you taught and exemplified

You personify the potency of Sri Nityānanda Rām

Come to rescue the most fallen

While revealing the holy Dhām in the Western world

From the realm of sacred sound

Beyond the touch of corporeal senses

The scope of empiric ability

You continue to reach out

The touch of your loving hand tangible still

You beckon us to go deeper

Seek darśan in your vānī

The immortal feature of yours

Where we commune with you still

Throughout all the ages

Your vānī rings true

Amplified as it drifts

Through the corridors of time

Enshrined in hearts

Who are given to you

Living in the praise

They sing anew

In this way we catch glimpses

Of the Golden Age’s dawn

Painting the sky with good fortune

For ten thousand years as Kali-yuga recedes

By holding tightly to your instructions

We find your presence

As vivid as ever

Living on in nāma-sankīrtan

The divine dispensation

Sweetest sound on all the earth

Song bestowing second birth

Dancing upon your lotus lips

Resound in me today

This world fades and its light grows dim

Shadows move across the landscape

Worldly songs fall silent

Mortal memories are all erased

Lead us through this tangled maze

Burn the pages of karmic store

Carry us over the shifting patterns

Of burning desert sand

As we cross this barren wasteland homeward bound

Clear the slate of my mind

Wipe away unholy images from the mirror of my soul

Impress our hearts with message never ending

Enduring in the praise we sing

O beloved Gurudeva

Deliver us from duality

Where division and conflict rage

Take us to that higher realm

Where you wait for us today

Guide my steps on narrow path

As we serve you here and now

Eager to see your smile once again

Extend the offer of enduring love

To lonely souls of this world

Heal the broken hearts

That they too may sing

In fellowship with your devotees

Where you live with us still

May all who give their lives to you

Reflect the joy of your eternal shelter

Living in the sacrament we celebrate today

Sri Vyāsa-pūjā, the most blessed event

Your servant,

Varsana Swami

Introduction by Dravida Dasa

Varsana Swami offers an exquisite poem. Here is an excerpt describing the kirtana Srila Prabhupāda led at his 1972 Vyāsa-pūjā celebration in New Vrindāvana. I’ve heard this extraordinary kirtana described before, but never so beautifully:

As you came before Their Lordships

To offer your pranāms

You began to lead the indelible kirtan

And the spiritual frontier

Emerged before our vision

Your ecstasy was contagious

Everyone was affected

Hundreds of eyes shed joyous tears

Hundreds of arms reached upward

Undulating with grace

Celestial voices joined with ours

Songs of nature formed the chorus

Echoes responded from surrounding hills

Noontime sun from high above

Shone down on us to see

Faces beaming with new-found hope

In brighter worlds beyond the sky

While our praise rose upward

Blessings descended in return

Your Vyāsa-pūjā lecture

Thereby affirmed

It seemed as if the heavens opened

For the mellows of Vrindāvana to shower upon us

Cleansing the mirror of my soul from the dust of illusion

While subduing samsāra’s raging fire

Awakening a taste for devotional life

A euphoric feeling surpassing all comprehension

Distinct from all worldly experience

Immersed us in the ecstasy of unbounded joy

Amidst a delicate assemblage of fragrance and warmth

Color beauty luster and rasa

This impression grows ever more vivid

With the passage of time

I reflect on it often

For inspiration